Leading with Vulnerability

Introduction: Where It All Began

​​A loud explosion went off. “We have to run now!” Klara said. Another barrage of explosions started and it felt like the world was on fire. Klara grabbed her 4‐year‐old daughter, Genya, who could barely make sense of what was happening. It was the beginning of World War II. Without having time to grab anything, they ran out into the night along with thousands of other people. As they ran, they saw Zoya, a young girl Genya's age, who was running around screaming; her mother had just hung herself after finding out her husband was killed in battle. Klara grabbed Zoya and all three of them fled.

Klara and the two girls came to an open field. They had to cross the field as low flying fighter pilots dropped bombs on them. There was chaos everywhere, and Klara lost the hand of one of the girls. Faced with the choice of all of them getting killed and saving herself and one little girl, Klara and the other girl continued on to safety. Eventually Klara and the girl got to a train station. The train traveled over a river when another explosion went off and the bridge the train was on was destroyed. The train and all of the passengers plummeted into the cold dark water below.

They crawled over dead bodies until they emerged from the water and walked and hitchhiked their way to Tbilisi, Georgia, where Klara's sister Sonya lived.

Klara Taxer, who only had three years of formal education, found a job as a waitress. They were desperate to find a place to live, ...